The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1887-09-08


Than That Of India-slow and solid niss
Of the Mighty Nile-wld Duck ana
Aquatic Fowl in Large Numbers. IN
Egypt has always possessed great In
terest for Americans. American officers
have taken high rank in the armies Of
that country, and American explorers
and scholars have found plenty of room
for research. The general impression
concerning the summer months there 10
wrong, and just as the heated term 10
ending here it will be interesting to note
some facts concerning that land. Com
pared with Indian heat the temperature
of Egypt is refreshing; for, however
sultry the day may be, there is long
cool night. The only real trial is the
length of the hot season. A couple of
months of more intense heat would be
much easier to bear than the steady, gen.
tie grilling from May to October. But,
after all, an average temperature Of
ninety in the daytime out of doors
which may be reduced to eighty in the
large native rooms-sinking some ten or
fifteen degrees at night, does not consti-
tute very formidable summer climate.
1t is interesting to study an entirely
different Egypt from that described by
the hundred and one authors who
have undertaken, at the solicitation
of their friends, a record of their
experiences. There is perpetual de-
light y watching the slow and solid
rise of the mighty Nile, swollen by the
rains in unexplored lands beyond the
equator, rolling along its thousands of
miles below khartoum without tribu.
tary, always giving to the thirsty fields
on either side, never receiving, but ever
flowing with daily increasing tide
truly one of the worlds greatest won
ders. Gradually it fills the canals, and,
mounting its banks, climbs softly UP till
it laps over and floods the landscape, till
as far as the eye can reach from the
river-bed Egypt is one great lake. The
villages with their clusters of palms
lie dotted here and there, like tiny
islands in the sea, and the fellah
on in silent pleasure at the great
Nile fructifying his acres with rich mold
from the heart of Africa. Then q
quickly or as slowly as it has risen the
river sinks, leaving great stagnant pools,
which the sun licks up; and the new
layer of mud cracks into great chasms
dear to the heart of the cultivator and
ready for the quick-springing CROP The
fresh growth is almost miraculous in its
rapidity. Where one week all that meets
the eye is muddy marsh covered with
waterfowl, ten days later the lovely ten
der green of the young corn or berseen
is covering the land. Then the real work
of the fellah commences: which is to
prevent too much water lying on his
acres, and yet to supply the requisite
amount of moisture. The pickax and
shovel, the donkey and camel, the baby
girl and the baby-boy, all are pressed
into service, till gradually the proper
supply is obtained and the crop springs
up victorious, home for the winter
hunting ground for the sportsman.
Wild duck and other aquatic fowl
rejoice in the Nile food, and goodly
flock of pelicans are to be found. The
summer plumage of the one-year-old
birds is peculiarly beautiful, the under
side of each feather being of shell-like
rose color. One bird will give eighteen
/ inches square of the most lovely feath-
ers, and dozen skins will make an
opera cloak beautiful enough to cause
any woman's eyes to glisten. Soon in
Lower Egypt the cotton-fields are in full
bloom, mass of glorious yellow be-
tween gold and primrose color, whose
blossoms mean money. Quickly the
color fades to the universal brown Of the
pods, till they break out again with the
snowy fluff of ripeness, and the cotton
crop is ready for the picker. Probably
not one in hundred of visitors to the
Nile land has ever seen q cotton-feld
in flower. 1t is one of the sights reserved
for the summer martyrs. What the cot.
compliant is to the Delta the sugar.cane
is to the country between Cairo and
Assouan. The cane is laid down in the
early summer in pieces of about foot
long, overlapping each other in the long
burrows. Boys then walk along stamp
| ing down the ends, and the earth 10
turned over. The process of taking root
does not require much time, and when
once the spikes appear above ground they
shoot up almost visibly. By the end Of
August the planters work Is over, and he,
will tell you that there are many worse,
places in which to spend q summer than
Bibeh, Magagah, or Erment. The morn
ing rides and the moOnlit strolls through
the plantations would supply material
for sketching much less hackneyed than
mosques, pyramids, and camels.
Whatever Europeans may feel, sum.
mer is the season the native really loves.
In the winter he goes about with his
head wrapped up in multifarious shawls,
cursing the Franks who have brought
rain and cold and bemoaning his own
hard lot. The few piastres he can earn
will not afford him fire, and his house.,
if he has one, is wretchedly bare. In the,
summer he can sprawl about on the,
ground in comfortable warmth all night
long, and few beans in the pod OF Q
couple of yards of sugar-cane and q
pumpkin give him cheap and delicious
meal. Dust is better than mud for bare
feet, and the baking of the sun is pure
delight to the Arab born. In the town
he can have his nightly fantasias or other
open-air amusements, which cost nothing.
The beasts have their share of enjoy
ment from the overhowing abundance Of
food, and the humblest donkey banquets
royalty. No one who has never seen q
mule or donkey roll in the dust when
his saddle is taken off can guess the Joy
he feels. The expression Of satisfied de-
sire showing on the tip Of bullocks
nose and from out of his great sleepy
eyes as he rolls porpoise- like In the canal,
after a long days round in the sakiaA, Il
enough to make q Christian envy tho
beast. The European who gets up early
and pOes for n OOOd pallOn In the froah